Early Top 8 in the East projections.

[dorkestra]

1. Indiana Pacers
2. Cleveland Cavaliers
3. Atlanta Hawks
4. Washington Wizards
5. Miami Heat
6. Toronto Raptors
7. Brooklyn Nets
8. Detroit Pistons

[kerry kittles]

Few items:

1) Shaun Livingston v Jarret Jack
Livingston is the vastly superior defender. It's not even close. His size and quickness allows him to defend 1 through 3. Jack is a combo guard whose primary strength is scoring. He is a strong finisher and finds ways to score late in games. There is almost a complete overlap in his skills with Deron Williams' abilities as a player. Starting Joe Johnson against quicker 2s, AK47 at 3, and starting a traditional 4 will reverse any progress the Nets made as a small-ball team.

2) Losing Paul Pierce
He may not have had a great season, but he was the key to this team turning its season around. Without him as a stretch 4, the Nets' style of play would not have emerged. Lionel Hollins is also a traditional coach who I expect to play two bigs at all times.

3) Aging/Injuries
This is not the same Nets team that won 49 games two years ago. Lopez's stress fracture, Williams having surgery on both ankles, and the core becoming one of the oldest in the league will continue to show this year. Williams was woefully inconsistent, Lopez's lack of any mobility will force the Nets to change their defensive schemes, and the aging roster will force Hollins to coach his traditional style.

Williams / Jack
Johnson / Bogdanovic
AK47 / Anderson
KG / Teletovic
Lopez / Plumlee

Plumlee and Bogdanovic offer some youth, but the core players on this roster do not mesh well. Teams will double Lopez off of Kirilenko/Garnett on every possession. Without the spacing to punish teams that double, Lopez will be less effective in his return from a severe injury. Williams is not as adept as he once was in creating off the dribble and creating for others. Iso Joe can carry this team to a few wins, but he's no LeBron or Carmelo when it comes to carrying a team for a season.

Here's my #Hottake for the upcoming season: only one team from the Atlantic Division makes the playoffs (guess which team I think it is...haha).

Lionel Hollins already said he's going to work with personnel he's got and is not opposed to going small. His personnel dictated he should have a traditional lineup in Memphis. 2 of his best players were Randolph and Gasol. What sense would make not to play them together? I think this is a misconception just because his players dictated he should go big.

I don't think they made progress or anything with a small ball lineup, it just clicked from the minute they went small. Pierce first started at the 4 December 28th I believe. They started 2014 11-1 so it clicked instantaneously and was not something they figured out along the way. So it's not like it took an entire season to build this chemistry and that's being thrown away. So I don't really get when you say "reverse any profess they made" when referring to small ball.

I think your projected lineup is off. Johnson has to be viewed as a 3 from now on, too slow to guard quicker shotting guards and then move AK to 4. KG is too slow to start at the 4.

I think with Lopez:
DWill/Jack
Karasev/Brown
Johnson/Bogdanovic
AK47/Mirza
Lopez/Plumlee/Garnett

When Lopez sits if they're giving him rest days or worse comes to worse and he gets hurts flip Mirza/AK and then you'd start Plumlee at center. I think spacing issues here are over blown. In 2012-13 they had two of the worst offensive players in the league starting I'm Reggie Evans and Gerald Wallace. In the lineup I have Joe is one of the best 3 point shooters in the league, DWill is above average. Then whoever they havd at SG. If Anderson he's not great but not someone you'd play way off like a Gerald Wallace. AK's not a shooter, but great at slashing and moving off ball. Those pieces can definitely fit.

There's holes there for sure. They need another 4 on the roster and are thin there at the moment. Hopefully they can get a decent signing there for the vet min. They need something better at SG and I hope Anderson is back. He has his faults and makes dumb decisions put he fits nicely with the starters. He started game 6-7 against the Raptors the Nets won. He started when the nets started 6-1 for the new year.


It really depends on what happens with Dwill and Lopez as far as injuries are concerned making it too hard to make any definitive claims. If they stay healthy they'll be fine and if they can't they'll be in trouble. And DWill wasn't fully healthy in 2012-13 when they won 49 games FYI. He didn't dunk until after the all star break and had no lift on his jumper or explosiveness the 1st half. He took off the few games leading up to the All Star break, got shots in his ankles and went on a juice cleanse. He played well after that. I don't think DWill will be any worse than he was the first half of that season. He's been delaying this surgery forever and hopeful it helps.

[JasonStern]

as in the west, I'm not going to rank but group due to free agency not being finished.

Teams Potentially Swept By The Spurs/"Contenders":
Bulls
Pacers
Cavaliers

Playoff Locks:
Wizards
Raptors
Hornets

Should Make the Playoffs:
Hawks
Heat

Playoff Hopefuls:
Nets
Knicks
Celtics
Pistons

Rebuilding:
Bucks
Magic
76ers

Stopped reading after I saw the Bobcats mentioned 3 times. That isn't our name. Keep up with things.

says the guy still sporting a Bobcats signature.

[kf96]

1. Indiana Pacers
2. Cleveland Cavaliers
3. Atlanta Hawks
4. Washington Wizards
5. Miami Heat
6. Toronto Raptors
7. Brooklyn Nets
8. Detroit Pistons

Bulls?

[Left Side Drive]

1. Indiana Pacers
2. Cleveland Cavaliers
3. Atlanta Hawks
4. Washington Wizards
5. Miami Heat
6. Toronto Raptors
7. Brooklyn Nets
8. Detroit Pistons

Bulls?

He predicted that the Pistons kicked the Bulls butts so hard that they fell from 1st to 9th with the Pistons taking the last playoff spot.

[LBJVirus218]

Raptors fans be like

[23-7]

Wow I'm really shocked this thread has derailed into a lets crap on the Knicks thread

But their bad and their fans say they are good

[Detective]

Bobcats win zero games next season.

Absolutely none.

[Mamba Venom]

Standings not seeds
1. Cavs - LeBron owns the reg season.
2. Heat - surprise the East is still too weak for the Heat even without LeBron
3. Pacers - the look more like the team that barely beat the Hawks
4. Bulls - minor injury setback, impact player out 3 to 4 weeks
5. Raptors - solid consistent
6. Wizards - similar year
7. Nets - have a strong mid season before the all-star break
8. Cats - growth, this time they have a winning record to get in the play-offs

Congrats all East teams in the play-offs win at least 42 games!!!

[JohnnyNightrain]

Magic Johnson has Bulls, Cavs, Pacers and Wizards.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/MagicJohnson/status/488764952925450240[/tweet]

[Detective]

In this thread:

Wait, this list doesn't make sense. Why is there no Atlantic division winner in these rankings?

Ohohoho! You just activated my trap bait card! Since when does division winners matter, when we're talking about the Top 8 teams in the conference, because the OP didn't specify otherwise. They could have logically meant including the division winners, but you'll never know now!*twirls mustache*

.... since forever you special, special person. Man, the civilized Western Conference Top 8 thread doesn't have this issue at all. SMH

I'm gonna have to get Turbo_Zone to make a sig which says "Atlantic Division disappears into Bermuda Triangle Offense. Winner is MIA within East Top 4 rankings. Thoughts & Prayers with the affected families"

[kane]

Wow I'm really shocked this thread has derailed into a lets crap on the Knicks thread

But their bad and their fans say they are good

Their bad? So the season started I'm sorry what's their record? You can say they only won 37 games last year but two years ago they won 54 with pretty much the same roster so who knows

[Austincys21]

I see the Heat not making the playoffs because they lack size and don't have a facilitator.

Chalmers / Shabazz
Wade / Douglas
Deng / Granger
McRoberts / Haslem
Bosh / Birdman

Solid players but they will be last in rebounds and Chalmers will have the ball more but isn't very effective and will have trouble getting others open, plus I see Wade missing majority of the year due to injuries. Losing Lebron hurts and I see them finishing 10th


1. Cavs
2. Bulls
3. Pacers
4. Hawks ( sign Stephenson )
5. Wizards
6. Pistons
7. Raptors
8. Hornets
9. Knicks
10. Heat
11. Magic
12. Nets
13. Bucks
14. Celtics
15. Sixers


Cavs vs Hornets
Bulls vs Raptors
Pacers vs Pistons
Hawks vs Wizards

[Asif16]

I see the Heat not making the playoffs because they lack size and don't have a facilitator.

Chalmers / Shabazz
Wade / Douglas
Deng / Granger
McRoberts / Haslem
Bosh / Birdman

Solid players but they will be last in rebounds and Chalmers will have the ball more but isn't very effective and will have trouble getting others open, plus I see Wade missing majority of the year due to injuries. Losing Lebron hurts and I see them finishing 10th


1. Cavs
2. Bulls
3. Pacers
4. Hawks ( sign Stephenson )
5. Wizards
6. Pistons
7. Raptors
8. Hornets
9. Knicks
10. Heat
11. Magic
12. Nets
13. Bucks
14. Celtics
15. Sixers


Cavs vs Hornets
Bulls vs Raptors
Pacers vs Pistons
Hawks vs Wizards

Lol the pistons??? And not only do you have them in the playoffs, you have them ahead of the raptors and hornets?

[kerry kittles]

Wow I'm really shocked this thread has derailed into a lets crap on the Knicks thread

But their bad and their fans say they are good

Their bad? So the season started I'm sorry what's their record? You can say they only won 37 games last year but two years ago they won 54 with pretty much the same roster so who knows

Tyson Chandler was an All Star on that team that won 54 games. He is now a member of the Mavericks.

[Austincys21]

I see the Heat not making the playoffs because they lack size and don't have a facilitator.

Chalmers / Shabazz
Wade / Douglas
Deng / Granger
McRoberts / Haslem
Bosh / Birdman

Solid players but they will be last in rebounds and Chalmers will have the ball more but isn't very effective and will have trouble getting others open, plus I see Wade missing majority of the year due to injuries. Losing Lebron hurts and I see them finishing 10th


1. Cavs
2. Bulls
3. Pacers
4. Hawks ( sign Stephenson )
5. Wizards
6. Pistons
7. Raptors
8. Hornets
9. Knicks
10. Heat
11. Magic
12. Nets
13. Bucks
14. Celtics
15. Sixers


Cavs vs Hornets
Bulls vs Raptors
Pacers vs Pistons
Hawks vs Wizards

Lol the pistons??? And not only do you have them in the playoffs, you have them ahead of the raptors and hornets?

Yeah they're my sleeper. I like SVG as a coach and I think he's putting a team together that will be hard to beat. Drummond will flourish in his style. Plus I see them trading Smith or Monroe for a stretch 4 and solid bench players. SVG will teach Jennings not to chuck and play within the system, Jennings will get tons of open shots playing with him. Pope and Meeks is a nice duo at SG, they just signed Caron Butler. The Pistons will be a very good team in a few years and I think they will surprise teams because this team now has shooters. Drummond for MIP and an easy allstar starter, watch!

[[e]]

I'll assume Lance goes back to Indiana, but this is definitely way too early for projections. Still lots of empty roster spots.

1. Bulls
2. Pacers/Cavs
3. Wizards
4. Raptors
5. Cavs/Pacers
6. Hornets
7. Hawks
8. Nets

[kane]

But their bad and their fans say they are good

Their bad? So the season started I'm sorry what's their record? You can say they only won 37 games last year but two years ago they won 54 with pretty much the same roster so who knows

Tyson Chandler was an All Star on that team that won 54 games. He is now a member of the Mavericks.

He was also on the team that won 37 games you can't have it both ways, he also quit on the team and only plays when he feels like it or not sick with the flu I'm glad he's gone

[kerry kittles]

Their bad? So the season started I'm sorry what's their record? You can say they only won 37 games last year but two years ago they won 54 with pretty much the same roster so who knows

Tyson Chandler was an All Star on that team that won 54 games. He is now a member of the Mavericks.

He was also on the team that won 37 games you can't have it both ways

Yes, he missed time and was pretty terrible when he played. He was a big reason for their drop off. The point I was trying to make is whose going to have that impact for them next year if they're to win 54 games again?

[kane]

Tyson Chandler was an All Star on that team that won 54 games. He is now a member of the Mavericks.

He was also on the team that won 37 games you can't have it both ways

Yes, he missed time and was pretty terrible when he played. He was a big reason for their drop off. The point I was trying to make is whose going to have that impact for them next year if they're to win 54 games again?

I'm not saying they will win 54 games I was just responding to the poster who said they were "bad" when the season hasn't even started yet

Truth be told i think they will have to fight to make the playoffs but that has a lot to do with a rookie head coach and learning the triangle, but if you're looking for a strong #2 on the Knicks look to amare since it's a contract year I also think he will fit well in a triangle system and it sounds like he's going to spend more time at the 5 where he does his best